The First Step
by Alchemist Experiment
Summary: Halfblood Chronicles Fic. It wasn't fair, Valyn felt, that the boy should look on him with fear in his eyes Valyn was only trying to help. But how could a halfblood look on any Elven Lord without fear?


_Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine, I'm making no money off of this._

**The First Step**

V'kass Valyn el-Lord Hernalth was once again immensely thankful for all the damned training he'd gone through to remain completely emotionless in any circumstance. Otherwise, he imagined he would have looked quite a sight when the concubine - no, no longer a concubine, Delia was a _breeder_ now - appeared in his room in the middle of the night. He didn't want to think what his expression would have been when the woman revealed the reason for her visit.

Slaves showing up in Valyn's presence at all hours wasn't _that_ uncommon. He had a well deserved reputation for aiding them, and they came to him when need be. But they had never come to him for something like _this_ before!

He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. A halfblood. Halfbloods weren't even supposed to exist! But the dark haired boy that was currently asleep in Valyn's bed begged to differ. The young elven lord decided that the world had to be reversing on its axis, as a halfblood was putting and elven lord out of his bed. But Valyn didn't mind - he wasn't capable of sleep at the moment, anyway. Instead he was sitting at his desk, a faint mage light giving just enough illumination for him to see the paper in front of him.

He knew that the logical thing to have done would have been to send the woman and boy away. But Delia had been crying, and the boy…. Valyn still couldn't erase the sight of his frightened green eyes from his mind. His eyes. Green and bright and cat-slitted, the same as Valyn's. And the boy would be killed, and he was only a child and Valyn had to do _something_.

Sighing, Valyn rubbed his temples and wrote a brief note on the paper before him. He was glad he always kept the Lord-sealed parchments in case of emergency. He would declare the boy his own personal servant - he certainly merited one, and he had all manner of excuses ready to argue why he wanted _this_ one.

With that out of the way, the next thing to be done was constructing a collar that would mask Mero's - Valyn had to stop referring to him as only 'the boy' - halfblooded nature. Another perk to being heir to the most powerful Elven family in the world - beryls. He'd been saving his own small collection for emergencies, and he supposed this was as much of an emergency as he would ever encounter.

Mero was sound asleep. Valyn stood over the bed, watching the boy. A halfblood. He still couldn't quite believe it. But there, poking up through the soft fall of Mero's black hair, were the faint pointed ear tips. And Valyn knew that beneath the boy's closed eye-lids were the bright green eyes of an Elven Lord. And ancestors, even without that, the boy's finely chiseled features and inhuman beauty were enough to tip off the observant. Shaking his head, Valyn reached down to cautiously unlock the plain slave-collar about the boy's neck.

"Mmmrf?" Mero stirred, blinking open bleary eyes and then scooting back away from Valyn's touch. Wonderful, he'd frightened the boy already.

"It's alright," Valyn said, face impassive. "I'm just taking off your collar, I didn't mean to wake you."

Mero only stared at him, and the boy's hands went up to his own collar, as though just realizing it was there.

"I need to place an illusion in it," Valyn explained, patiently. "I'm not going to hurt you." He knelt on the bed, attempting to keep his movements calm and slow. It was rather like dealing with a skittish colt, Valyn decided. One who'd perhaps come from a trainer who was free with the whip.

"I need to get it off of you," he repeated, offering a dazzling if not exactly real smile. "I daresay you'll feel better for a bit of freedom from it."

Mero just nodded, the fear still in his eyes. It made Valyn sick, though there was no sign of it on his face. This shy, quiet, sweet-faced boy was _terrified_, and all because Valyn was an elven lord. It didn't matter that Valyn was trying to _help_. It was disgusting! Perhaps Valyn's training wasn't as good as he thought, because a puzzled flash crossed Mero's eyes and the boy finally spoke.

"M'lord? Are… are you well?"

"Don't call me 'milord'," Valyn said, perhaps more harshly than he meant it. "There's no one here but us. Call me Valyn, it's my name."

"But…"

"No buts." Valyn reached for the collar again, snapping it off with a quick spell. "When we're alone, call me Valyn." He offered another empty-smile, because he could offer nothing else. "Besides, I may be an Elven Lord, but we're cousins you know." And that fact finally hit home - Mero was a frightened young boy, Mero was a halfblood, but Mero was family. And Valyn had never had any family that was worth a damn to him. Dyran was a tyrant that Valyn would gladly see dead and Ardeyn was… well, Ardeyn was every inch the spoiled young elven lord. His twin bored Valyn nearly to tears when they got together at fetes. If it wasn't how strong he was getting it was who he'd taken to bed, and Valyn was certain that his twin was able to bring out a flush in his cheeks, despite training.

"I…" Mero was stumbling with his words, and his green eyes were brighter than normal, and Valyn held his breath and hoped that the boy wouldn't start crying. Valyn didn't know how to handle crying. "Thank you," was all Mero said, one hand at his now bare throat.

"You don't have to thank me." Valyn held the collar in his hands, the simple leather a tangible reminder of the casual cruelty so normal to his race. He grit his teeth, hands tight on the leather, so tight that the edge of the collar dug into his skin. He remembered the fear with which Mero had looked at him, as though _Valyn_ was going to harm him. That sick twisting returned, gripping the elven lord's stomach like a vice.

Whatever it took, whatever he needed to do, he was going to ensure that Mero was never frightened for his life again.


End file.
